Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria Cultural Landscape, Spain

Cave C6 of the Risco Caído archaeological complex was thought to be an almogarén or sanctuary. This is an excavated enclosure with a circular floor plan. In addition, the paraboloid outline of the dome, the uniform pattern of measurements and proportions, and the way of working the materials demonstrate formal originality and an unusual constructive genesis in a culture with such limited resources.

One of the most exceptional aspects of Risco Caído’s archaeology is the representation of a solar and lunar hierophany, inside cave 6, based on images projected by the sun and the moon, that change shape as the days and months go by. The triangular engravings and domes also change their path along the wall where they are represented, like an altarpiece, and might possibly be reference points in the lunisolar calendar.

The Roque Bentayga is an extraordinarily wealthy archaeological site where, apart from the actual village, we can spot walls, burial grounds, caves featuring rock art, alphabetical inscriptions and the Bentayga almogarén or sanctuary.
Located at the epicentre of the Tejeda Basin, its immense bulk seems to organise this sacred space. 

One of the most extraordinary hierophanies found in Risco Caído occurs at the Roque Bentaya almogarén, where, during the equinox sunrise, the projected shadow through a slot carved in a rocky promontory on the eastern edge of the site matches a circular symbol - a glyph with a diameter of around 70 cm engraved in the floor of the central platform of the almogarén (sanctuary) at Roque Bentayga, demonstrating the place’s symbolic value.

There are geological landmarks in the Cultural Landscape, such as the impressive Mesa de Acusa, that is home to one of the aborigines’ greatest and most spectacular troglodyte spots. This striking settlement edges the scarps of the large fertile plain on top of the plateau. The villages were excavated in strategic places although preferably at the foot of scarps. The collective granaries occupy the most inaccessible parts of the cliffs, and some are certainly impregnable. 

La Mesa de Acusa, in itself, an impressive geological monument, is home to one of the largest and most spectacular troglodyte spots tied to Gran Canaria’s aborigines, partly reused and re-inhabited nowadays. This striking settlement edges the scarps of the large fertile plain on top of the plateau. Any way you look at Acusa, it seems to be a natural fort and that is exactly what attracted the interest of the aboriginal Canary people, choosing it as a safe place to set up their villages. What’s more, the great plain of fertile land that forms the Mesa platform was ideal for farming.

One very distinctive trait of the pre-Hispanic culture in Gran Canaria is the existence of troglodyte granaries, many of them collective and fortified or very hard to access, fundamentally intended for keeping and conserving excess farming products.
One of the most outstanding examples is the Álamo Granary, in the troglodyte complex of the Mesa de Acusa. 

The island of Gran Canaria holds inland treasures such as one of the greatest concentrations of rock art engravings that represent the female pubic triangle. They are always represented on the walls of artificial caves, in outstanding spots such as Risco Caído, Cuevas del Caballero, Roque Bentayga and, particularly the Cueva de los Candiles, a cave whose walls are completely covered in these representations.

The presence of several sets of Libyco-Berber type alphabetic engravings in the Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria Cultural Landscape provides further exceptional examples that should be added to this area’s characteristics. The meaning of these representations goes beyond the mere presence of singular rock art inscriptions given that, along with the language, they form the cultural background of Northern African societies, representing this site’s outstanding ties with the Amazigh culture that is still present in the oral memory.

In Gran Canaria, more than two hundred terracotta idols have been documented, mainly female representations. They are a clearly differentiating element that identifies its culture. They are figurative representations and although they mainly represent the human figure, there are also examples of animal representations.

Items have also been documented whose unusual or shocking traits for our aesthetic perception have led us to consider them as beastly or chimerical. Most of the figures are female, highlighting their sexual traits and, in many cases, displaying very prominent bellies associated with motherhood. In some cases, the figures appear decorated with red paint or incisions that seem to mark hair or body art. There was a clear relationship between some of these pieces and the religious world. However, it should not be ruled out that some of the figures are simply votive offerings, amulets, or even toys.

The funeral rites of the ancient Canary people show standardised and generalised ways of treating the body before being put in the grave, consistent with wrapping bodies in a shroud. This would suppose that there were specialists dedicated to this work. It should be noted that this pattern was not incompatible with the existence of differences between individuals. In fact, this asymmetry is clear in the unequal manufacturing quality of shrouds, some of which have made it to the present day in such excellent condition that mummification techniques were even considered. 

The firmament, intrinsically linked to the Earth, is the stage for events and happenings that are relevant to human beings. Analysis of astronomical implications among the archaeological landmarks of the Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria Cultural Landscape, such as Risco Caído, Roque Bentayga or Acusa, indicates intentionality in relationships with the heavens that are as-yet unknown.

The Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria Cultural Landscape is a humanised space, modelled by generations of men and women who have made their mark on the land with farming activities, water management, transhumance, pottery, the outlines of its paths, etc.

The Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria Cultural Landscape is dotted with ancestral human occupation spots, each one unique, but with a common denominator of living in natural and particularly artificial caves.

Troglodyte habitats survive to the present day in the Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria Cultural Landscape for reasons of identity, custom and because they offer the best weather conditions as opposed to imported models.

Pottery is an ancestral indigenous practice that has survived through the ages. The singular process of making pots originates from Lugarejos, the potting hub within the Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria Cultural Landscape. The potters’ workshops, usually run by women, are traditionally workshop-caves that provide ideal conditions for this craft.

Surprisingly some of the aborigines’ ancestral practices have survived over the centuries in this land, conditioning and creating a singular footprint on the landscape of these mountains where the past blends in with the present. The transhumance routes, migratory livestock practices and associated grazing land are thereby outstanding characteristics of the Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountains of Gran Canaria Cultural Landscape. This heritage comes alongside an extensive network of tracks and footpaths that the ancient Canary people used for animal migration.

The ancient Canary people for food, fodder for animals or medicinal remedies used different seeds, fruits and other plants. Despite the importance of these resources, there is a distinct lack of knowledge so far, on how the first inhabitants of the island used them, as the plant evidence in the sites went unnoticed by the specialists until recently. In fact, recent studies showed that the same unique variety of barley as sown by the ancient villagers is still grown, already adapted to the land.

Miguel de Unamuno visited Gran Canaria twice and wrote the most famous description of the impressive Tejeda basin, part of the Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountains Cultural Landscape: “Passing paths hacked out of sudden, steep cliffs, we visited the Tejeda valley. The spectacle is imposing. All those black walls to the great cauldron, with its peaks, that look like battlements, with their erect rocks, give it a Dantesque vision.

Bench terraces or farming terraces are man-made structures on the landscape that make it easier to farm the inaccessible scarps, adding environmental, natural and ethnographic values to the area they mark out. In Gran Canaria, they can be found in steep, precipitous areas. Within the Risco Caído and the Sacred Mountains Cultural Landscape, they can be particularly spotted throughout the Barranco Hondo, around the Timagada settlement and under the village of Tejeda.